According to one embodiment, a solid-state imaging device includes an imaging processing circuit and a focus drive control section. The imaging processing circuit includes a luminance information generating section and a disparity amount calculating section. The luminance information generating section generates first luminance information from a first image signal. The disparity amount calculating section calculates a disparity amount based on the first luminance information and second luminance information. The second luminance information is contained in a second image signal. The focus drive control section controls the focus drive in accordance with a subject distance obtained using the disparity amount.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A solid-state imaging device comprising: a first image sensor configured to output a first image signal corresponding to an intensity distribution of color lights contained in light entering from a subject; a second image sensor configured to output a second image signal corresponding to a luminance distribution of the light entering from the subject; an imaging processing circuit configured to perform signal processing of the first image signal and the second image signal; and a focus drive control section configured to control focus drive of a first imaging lens and a second imaging lens, the first imaging lens causing the light from the subject to enter the first image sensor, and the second imaging lens causing the light from the subject to enter the second image sensor; wherein the imaging processing circuit includes, a luminance information generating section configured to generate first luminance information for a specific color component from luminance information extracted from the first image signal, and a disparity amount calculating section configured to calculate a disparity amount of a first image acquired by the first image sensor and a second image acquired by the second image sensor on the basis of the first luminance information and second luminance information, which is luminance information contained in the second image signal; and the focus drive control section controls the focus drive according to a subject distance obtained using the disparity amount.
2. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes an image synthesizing section configured to generate synthesized image data including color information extracted from the first image signal and the second luminance information.
3. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 2 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes a luminance information synthesizing section configured to generate synthesized luminance information by synthesizing the first luminance information and the second luminance information; and the image synthesizing section generates the synthesized image data including the synthesized luminance information and the color information.
4. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 3 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes a resolution restoring section configured to perform resolution restoration on the synthesized image by the synthesized luminance information; and the image synthesizing section synthesizes the color information and the synthesized luminance information subjected to the resolution restoration.
5. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 3 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes a smoothing processing section configured to perform a smoothing process on the color information; and the image synthesizing section synthesizes the synthesized luminance information and the color information subjected to the smoothing process.
6. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes a disparity correcting section configured to correct a disparity of the first image and the second image in accordance with the disparity amount.
7. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes an image signal separating section configured to separate the first image signal to the color information and the first luminance information.
8. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 7 , wherein the image signal separating section extracts the color information in preference to the first luminance information from the first image signal.
9. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a frame memory configured to store at least one of either the first image signal or the second image signal; wherein the first image sensor, the second image sensor, and the frame memory are arranged on a common substrate.
10. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein the first image sensor is a color image sensor configured to detect a plurality of the color lights; and the second image sensor is a monochrome image sensor configured to detect a single color light.
11. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 10 , wherein the disparity amount calculating section calculates the disparity amount assuming monochrome image data, which is the second image signal from the monochrome image sensor, as the second luminance information.
12. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 10 , wherein the monochrome image sensor includes a white pixel for detecting a white light.
13. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein the first image sensor and the second image sensor are both color image sensors configured to detect a plurality of color lights; and a wavelength region of each color light detected by the second image sensor is set wide compared to a wavelength region of each color light detected by the first image sensor.
14. A camera module comprising: a first imaging lens and a second imaging lens configured to retrieve light from a subject and form an image of a subject image; a lens driving unit configured to perform focus drive of the first imaging lens and the second imaging lens; and a solid-state imaging device configured to image the subject image; wherein the solid-state imaging device includes, a first image sensor configured to output a first image signal corresponding to an intensity distribution of color lights contained in the light retrieved by the first imaging lens, a second image sensor configured to output a second image signal corresponding to a luminance distribution of the light retrieved by the second imaging lens; an imaging processing circuit configured to perform signal processing of the first image signal and the second image signal, and a focus drive control section configured to control the lens driving unit; the imaging processing circuit includes, a luminance information generating section configured to generate first luminance information for a specific color component from luminance information extracted from the first image signal, and a disparity amount calculating section configured to calculate a disparity amount of a first image acquired by the first image sensor and a second image acquired by the second image sensor on the basis of the first luminance information and second luminance information, which is luminance information contained in the second image signal; and the focus drive control section controls the lens driving unit according to a subject distance obtained using the disparity amount.
15. The camera module according to claim 14 , wherein the first imaging lens and the second imaging lens are attached to a common lens holder; and the lens driving unit collectively drives the first imaging lens and the second imaging lens by moving the lens holder.
16. The camera module according to claim 14 , wherein the solid-state imaging device includes a frame memory configured to store at least one of either the first image signal or the second image signal; and the first image sensor, the second image sensor, and the frame memory are arranged on a common substrate.
17. The camera module according to claim 14 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes, a luminance information synthesizing section configured to generate synthesized luminance information by synthesizing the first luminance information and the second luminance information, and an image synthesizing section configured to generate synthesized image data including the synthesized luminance information and the color information.
18. The camera module according to claim 17 , wherein the imaging processing circuit further includes a resolution restoring section configured to perform resolution restoration on the synthesized image by the synthesized luminance information; and the resolution restoring section performs the resolution restoration based on individual information held by the camera module in advance.
19. A focus adjustment method of a camera module comprising: retrieving light from a subject by a first imaging lens and acquiring a first image corresponding to an intensity distribution of color lights contained in the light from the subject; retrieving light from the subject by a second imaging lens and acquiring a second image corresponding to a luminance distribution of the light from the subject; converting the first image to a luminance image for a specific color component; calculating a disparity amount of the first image and the second image on the basis of the luminance image and the second image; calculating a subject distance in accordance with the disparity amount; and controlling focus drive of the first imaging lens and the second imaging lens in accordance with the subject distance.
20. The focus adjustment method of the camera module according to claim 19 , wherein the subject distance is calculated on the basis of a distance between the first imaging lens and the second imaging lens, and the disparity amount.
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April 27, 2012
March 24, 2015
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